"The True [Political] Mothers of Today": Farm Women and the Organization of Eugenic Feminism in Alberta

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Abstract

In this thesis, I examine the rise of feminist agrarian politics in Alberta and the
ideological basis for their support of extreme health care reforms, including eugenics.
The early twentieth century eugenics movement is frequently described as a movement
grounded in scientific domination over women’s bodies. Yet despite having an apparent
anti-feminist stance, in the hands of women eugenics also became a platform within
which discourses of female social power could be embodied within a broader
conceptualization of motherhood. Feminist organizations in the province, primarily the
United Farm Women of Alberta, were critical to organizing and politicizing rural women
and lobbying the government for control over the laws which governed affairs of the
home.
This study offers new perspectives on the legacy of first-wave feminism as an
ideology steeped in rhetoric of child welfare and maternal health which sought to
fundamentally alter society. Within the United Farmers of Alberta, women created a
space for feminized political interests that focused primarily on social welfare, health,
and education. These women put very little political effort toward suffrage, rather
viewed the vote as a necessary and inevitable step to the future progress of the nation.
Women, they believed, needed to be actively and intelligently involved in political life to
promote those politics which supported “good motherhood.”